Gangs of Wasseypur - Part 1

In the coal belt around Dhanbad a blood feud between three crime families runs from 1941 into the mid-nineties. Shahid Khan is killed by Ramadhir Singh, who has taken over the mines; his son Sardar Khan swears revenge, shaves his head and becomes the most feared man in the district. As the fight passes through generations it gets harder to say who is avenging what. Anurag Kashyap directed and wrote it with Zeishan Quadri. Its length is an event in itself. Running over five hours in total, it was split in two, at 159 and 158 minutes. It screened in two sittings at the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes in 2012 and drew enthusiastic responses from international critics. The coal mafia is not invented; the real power struggles, politics and vendettas around Dhanbad are the ground the story stands on. It became the only Indian film on the Guardian's list of the hundred best films of the twenty-first century. Who it is for: viewers who want long crime epics and are curious about Indian cinema outside the mainstream. Who it is not for: anyone looking for something short, or planning to watch only the first part. The story does not end here and is incomplete on its own.